Anarchist Federation of Britain | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | AFB |
Leader | Collective leadership |
Founder | Frank Leech |
Founded | April 1937 |
Dissolved | 1950[1] |
Split from | Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation |
Succeeded by | Syndicalist Workers Federation |
Headquarters | Glasgow |
Newspaper | War Commentary |
Ideology | Anarchism Anti-militarism Factions: [2] Anarcho-syndicalism Anti-fascism Anti-parliamentary communism Civil libertarianism Council communism |
Political position | Far-left |
The Anarchist Federation of Britain was a British anarchist organisation that participated in the anti-war movement during World War II, organising a number of strike actions and providing support to conscientious objectors. Over time it gravitated towards anarcho-syndicalism, causing a split in the organisation, with the remnants reconstituting themselves as the Syndicalist Workers Federation.
After Frank Leech resigned from the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) in April 1937, he went on to establish the Glasgow Anarchist-Communist Federation (GACF) in August 1937. [3] By the outbreak of World War II, the GACF merged with the Marxian Study Group to establish the Glasgow Anarchist Federation, the local Glaswegian branch of a nationwide Anarchist Federation of Britain (AFB). The main mouthpiece of the AFB during the war was War Commentary , which characterised the war as "one between rival Imperialisms", taking an anti-war position that centered class conflict. [4]
In response to the war, the Glaswegian anarchists called for workers to "resist conscription" by organising a general strike, but when this did not occur they instead started to advocate for individual workers to take direct action against the war economy. [5] The AFB even went so far as to refuse Air Raid Precautions and compulsory fire lookout schemes, with Frank Leech being imprisoned in HM Prison Barlinnie for his refusal and going on hunger strike until his release, after his friends finally agreed to pay his fine. [6] During the war, the AFB collaborated with the APCF and the United Socialist Movement (USM) in the activities of the No-Conscription League. [7] In August 1940, four Glaswegian members of the AFB were charged with incitement, as the group had offered advice and support for conscientious objectors, but they were eventually acquitted. [8] Over the course of the war, dozens of AFB members were imprisoned for year-long sentences after they refused physical examinations. [9]
It was the AFB's stance against conscription that attracted many industrial workers to its ranks, with one Glaswegian member reporting a rise in anti-state sentiment throughout the Clydeside and criticising the opposition of mainstream trade unions to any strike action. [10] The AFB was broadly supportive of strike actions throughout the war, with the Glaswegian branch supporting a wildcat strike by bus workers, which had been opposed by both their own union and the Labour Party, and eventually resulted in the dismissal and replacement of the striking workers. [11] In September 1943, AFB members were directly involved in strike actions by coal miners in Lanarkshire, which continued in spite of the opposition by the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSM) and Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), only ceasing after the release of imprisoned miners and resulting in fines being paid for the work stoppage. [12] In December of that same year, the AFB went on to support a women's strike at a Glaswegian engineering factory, although lack of support from the male workers forced them to quit the strike by January 1944. [13] The AFB later emphasised the lack of trade union membership among the factory's women workers, who had instead formed strike committees, which they characterised as an unconscious act of anarcho-syndicalism. [14]
In April 1944, after the industrial conscription of coal miners had provoked a strike in Tyneside, members of the Workers' International League were arrested and charged for supporting the strike, which led the AFB to participate in their defence as part of the Anti-Labour Laws Victims Defence Committee. [15] In February 1945, a Glaswegian member published a report that detailed the CPGB's lack of support for strike actions and its collaboration with the mainstream trade unions. [16] The report also directly criticised all forms of trade unions for reformism, which they claimed had integrated the unions into the capitalist economy. [17]
During the war, members of the AFB had predicted that a revolutionary wave would spread throughout Europe as the warring states collapsed due to the conflict, but the Allied victory effectively ensured that there would be no post-war outbreak of revolution. [18]
The AFB subsequently entered a period of decline, as it fell to internal divisions and broke up into its constituent sections. [2] A split occurred between the Glaswegian and London-based groups, with the former taking on an anarcho-syndicalist position, while the latter gravitated towards egoist anarchism. [19] The London group rapidly fell apart, as a result of the emigration and death of its two leading members. By the 1950s, the old guard of the anarchist movement had disappeared from the scene. [19] Although the historian Peter Marshall attributed the split to the rise of the anarcho-syndicalists, the anarchist Albert Meltzer insisted that it was down to a personal conflict between the AFB's leading members. [20] By this time, the remnants of the AFB had reconstituted themselves as the Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF), [21] which eventually came to be known as the Solidarity Federation (SF). [22]
In 1963, attempts were made to reestablish the AFB along the lines of synthesis anarchism, but the internal contradictions between the various tendencies that made up the new organisation resulted in it lacking any clear strategy. [23] After the AFB experienced a number of defections to Trotskyist parties such as the International Socialists (IS) and the International Marxist Group (IMG), [24] one faction that emerged from the disarray was the Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists (ORA), [25] which adopted platformism in reaction to the AFB's lack of formal organisation. [24]
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of production and the economy at large. Developed in French labor unions during the late 19th century, syndicalist movements were most predominant amongst the socialist movement during the interwar period which preceded the outbreak of World War II.
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in broader society. The end goal of syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, regarding it as wage slavery. Anarcho-syndicalist theory generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration, anarcho-syndicalism is centred on the idea that power corrupts and that any hierarchy that cannot be ethically justified must be dismantled.
The Anarchist Federation is a federation of anarcho-communists in Great Britain. It is not a political party, but a direct action, agitational and propaganda organisation.
The Solidarity Federation, also known by the abbreviation SolFed, is a federation of class struggle anarchists active in Britain. The organisation advocates a strategy of anarcho-syndicalism as a method of abolishing capitalism and the state, and describes itself as a "revolutionary union". In 1994 it adopted its current name, having previously been the Direct Action Movement since 1979, and before that the Syndicalist Workers' Federation since 1950.
The Communist Party (British Section of the Third International) was a Left Communist organisation established at an emergency conference held on 19–20 June 1920 at the International Socialist Club in London. It comprised about 600 people.
Anarchism in the United Kingdom initially developed within the religious dissent movement that began after the Protestant Reformation. Anarchism was first seen among the radical republican elements of the English Civil War and following the Stuart Restoration grew within the fringes of radical Whiggery. The Whig politician Edmund Burke was the first to expound anarchist ideas, which developed as a tendency that influenced the political philosophy of William Godwin, who became the first modern proponent of anarchism with the release of his 1793 book Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.
Anarchism in Africa refers both to purported anarchic political organisation of some traditional African societies and to modern anarchist movements in Africa.
The Japanese Anarchist Federation was an anarchist organisation that existed in Japan from 1946 to 1968.
The Communist League was a small far-left organisation in the United Kingdom which existed during the year of 1919. Its stated goal was to establish a network of workers' councils that would "resist all legislation and industrial action directed against the working class, and ultimately assuming all power, establish a working class dictatorship".
The Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) was a communist group in the United Kingdom. It was founded by the group around Guy Aldred's Spur newspaper – mostly former Communist League members – in 1921. They included John McGovern.
The United Socialist Movement (USM) was an anarcho-communist political organisation based in Glasgow. Founded in 1934 after splitting from the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, the USM initially aimed to unite revolutionary socialists into an anti-fascist alliance and played a role in the early discussions on the founding of a "Fourth International". During the Spanish Civil War, it shifted its policies away from unconditional anti-fascism towards a revolutionary anti-militarism, which going into World War II led the USM into attempting to form a "Socialist-Pacifist alliance" and even collaborating with some reactionary elements in their opposition to the war. After the war, left with only a small old guard of anarchists and anti-parliamentarists, the USM again shifted its focus towards abstentionism, running unsuccessfully in a number of elections before its eventual dissolution in 1965.
Anarchism in Sweden first grew out of the nascent social democratic movement during the later 19th century, with a specifically libertarian socialist tendency emerging from a split in the movement. As with the movements in Germany and the Netherlands, Swedish anarchism had a strong syndicalist tendency, which culminated in the establishment of the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC) following an aborted general strike. The modern movement emerged during the late 20th century, growing within a number of countercultural movements before the revival of anarcho-syndicalism during the 1990s.
Anarchism in Ireland has its roots in the stateless organisation of the túatha in Gaelic Ireland. It first began to emerge from the libertarian socialist tendencies within the Irish republican movement, with anarchist individuals and organisations sprouting out of the resurgent socialist movement during the 1880s, particularly gaining prominence during the time of the Dublin Socialist League.
Anarchism in Australia arrived within a few years of anarchism developing as a distinct tendency in the wake of the 1871 Paris Commune. Although a minor school of thought and politics, composed primarily of campaigners and intellectuals, Australian anarchism has formed a significant current throughout the history and literature of the colonies and nation. Anarchism's influence has been industrial and cultural, though its influence has waned from its high point in the early 20th century where anarchist techniques and ideas deeply influenced the official Australian union movement. In the mid 20th century anarchism's influence was primarily restricted to urban bohemian cultural movements. In the late 20th century and early 21st century Australian anarchism has been an element in Australia's social justice and protest movements.
Anarchism in Japan began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Western anarchist literature began to be translated into Japanese. It existed throughout the 20th century in various forms, despite repression by the state that became particularly harsh during the two world wars, and it reached its height in the 1920s with organisations such as Kokuren and Zenkoku Jiren.
Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisation, peace, squatter and student protest movements. Anarchists have participated in armed revolutions such as in those that created the Makhnovshchina and Revolutionary Catalonia, and anarchist political organizations such as the International Workers' Association and the Industrial Workers of the World have existed since the 20th century. Within contemporary anarchism, the anti-capitalism of classical anarchism has remained prominent.
A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions of political, social, and labour organizations and may also include rallies, marches, boycotts, civil disobedience, non-payment of taxes, and other forms of direct or indirect action. Additionally, general strikes might exclude care workers, such as teachers, doctors, and nurses.
Anarchism in Croatia first emerged in the late 19th century within the socialist workers' movement. Anarchist tendencies subsequently spread from neighboring countries, taking root in a number of cities throughout the country. The movement experienced repression from a succession of authoritarian regimes before finally reemerging around the time of the independence of Croatia.
Anarchism in Austria first developed from the anarchist segments of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), eventually growing into a nationwide anarcho-syndicalist movement that reached its height during the 1920s. Following the institution of fascism in Austria and the subsequent war, the anarchist movement was slow to recover, eventually reconstituting anarcho-syndicalism by the 1990s.
Tom Brown (1900–1974) was a British anarcho-syndicalist trade unionist, anti-fascist, engineer and writer. Brown contributed articles to papers including War Commentary, Freedom, and Direct Action alongside authoring numerous pamphlets. Brown was known for his compelling public speaking and ability to communicate effectively in everyday terms. He placed a strong emphasis on federated local groups rather than centralism, and on workplace-based revolutionary trade unionism.